From highly trained heart surgeons to hard-working vegetable pickers, immigrants will be told today that they will only be considered for UK citizenship if they can correctly answer "Britishness" questions on a range of topics, from the principles of medieval land ownership to the invention of the hovercraft.

The achievements of Monty Python, Rudyard Kipling and Andrew Lloyd Webber are all included in a new 180-page Home Office syllabus which asks potential citizens to learn about Britain's history, culture and values, from the stone age to the 2010 general election, before they take a new and more tough "Life in the UK" test as part of the government's intention to dramatically reduce net migration.

In what critics dismissed as the equivalent of an outdated public school entrance exam, a text book written by Home Office officials goes on sale on Monday with sections on the engineering achievements of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Churchill's great speeches, Margaret Thatcher and the writing of Robert Burns.

The syllabus was announced by the minister for migration, Mark Harper, who complained that Labour's version featured "mundane information about water meters, how to find train timetables, and using the internet", as well as details of the welfare system. The government says that residents would already be aware of that sort of information.

"The new book rightly focuses on values and principles at the heart of being British," Harper said. "Instead of telling people how to claim benefits it encourages participation in British life."

From March, applicants will be expected to score 75% or above in a 24-question multiple choice exam to secure a pass.

Migrant groups attacked the new syllabus and test as "a lampoon of Britishness" that made citizenship harder to achieve but for the wrong reasons.

Don Flynn, director of the Migrants' Rights Network, said: "The test takes us a long way from the goal of supporting the integration of migrants. It is in danger of looking more like an entry examination for a public school which requires complete identification with elite views of British history and culture.

"The chapter which primes applicants' knowledge about history is permeated with the sort of Whig views of the world-civilising mission of the British realm which have encouraged generations of Etonians and Harrovians to play their role in the great imperial enterprise.

"The tone is set with the title of the chapter, A Long and Illustrious History, and the depiction of a scene from the Battle of Trafalgar on its front cover."

The section on India and empire is likely to raise eyebrows among Indians and Pakistanis, who, along with Poles, are now the largest migrating populations entering the UK according to the 2011 census. There is a box on the poet Rudyard Kipling, an extract from his poem If, and a description of "for the most part, an orderly transition from empire to commonwealth, with countries being granted their independence".

There is no mention of the million or more people who died in communal and religious violence at Britain's withdrawal during the 1947 partition of India.

The Home Office defended its move saying that earlier British history tests meant migrants did not have to show understanding of how modern Britain evolved. "The new book and test will focus on events and people who have contributed to making Britain great," the ministry said.

Migrants will have to learn about Purcell, Benjamin Britten and the Beatles, and "artistic achievements, from medieval stained glass to David Hockney, our national love of gardening, and the work of influential architects".

The Home Office issued 10 sample questions on Sunday. These seemed to suggest the test could be quite easy. But the syllabus suggests otherwise.

The chapter on the Tudors and the Stuarts requires readers understand "how and why religion changed during this period; the importance of poetry and drama in the Elizabethan period; the involvement of Britain in Ireland; the development of parliament and the only period in history when England was a republic; why there was a restoration of the monarchy; how the Glorious Revolution happened."

In a section on 20th-century inventions examinees are asked to remember who invented the MRI scanner and the cash machine (Sir Peter Mansfield and James Goodfellow, respectively).

The textbook bears the hallmark of the campaign by the education secretary, Michael Gove, for a more traditional, linear approach to history teaching, and looks set to face criticism for possible bias.

In the Margaret Thatcher section there is no mention of the miners' strike. Instead the textbook simply reads: "Traditional industries, such as shipbuilding and coal mining, declined ... during her premiership, there were a number of important economic reforms within the UK".

Under the last Labour government "many industries and services were affected by strikes," and "people began to argue that the unions were too powerful and that their activities were harming the UK" .

With Iraq there is nothing on the controversy about the reliance on claims Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction as a justification for war that then led to public inquiries. Instead it says: "British armed forces have been engaged in the global fight against international terrorism and against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction."

• This article was amended on Tuesday 29 January 2013 to update the story with the version that appeared in the Guardian newspaper.